


Polarity

by notkai



Category: Topp Dogg (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, everyones still on good terms with tae dont fret, just fluff, raising kittens, sangdo and sehyuk being the ultimate moms, side xenissi, so many kittens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 20:11:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9784166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notkai/pseuds/notkai
Summary: Somehow, there are now fourteen kittens in the dorm.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> literally raising kittens this is Pure Fluff with a side of shipping while i update other angsty things ur welcome

“No. We are not keeping them.”  
Sehyuk’s firm voice earned a variety of complaints and protests from the group in front of him- four of his members who held three meowing, hissing cardboard boxes between them.   
“Where did you even find them?” He asked in exasperation, walking over and observing Hansol’s box of cats- five wriggling kittens whose eyes were barely open. Hansol shrugged and adjusted his grip on the box so he could gently pet some of the kittens with one hand. One of the kittens nipped at his fingers, but it tickled more than it hurt, if Hansol’s giggles were anything to go by.  
“You know the noodle place a few streets from here? We found them behind the building, it that little alleyway where the delivery trucks drive.” Sangwon answered, sitting down with his box and taking two of the kittens out. One of them, a black kitten with patches of white, latched onto the front of his shirt and mewled until Sangwon began petting it while the other started to take unsteady steps away from the commotion. Sehyuk sighed and scooped the kitten up, placing it back in its box. “We think the momma cat got hit by a car or something. We couldn’t just leave them there.”  
“Why were you in the back of the noodle place?”  
Sangwon shrugged, too preoccupied with the kitten on his chest to offer a proper answer. A kitten from Hojoon’s box managed to clamber atop its siblings and escaped from the confines of the cardboard box, immediately heading for Sangwon. Hansol followed the maknae’s lead and settled down with his own box, cooing over the contents and discussing names with Sanggyun.   
“Where did you get the box- actually, I don’t want to know. I don’t care. We aren’t keeping the kittens.”  
“What kittens?” Sehyuk turned around at the sound of Yooncheul’s voice and gestured helplessly to the situation in front of him.   
Yooncheul’s expression of confusion was quickly replaced with curiosity as he walked over to one of the boxes, carefully lifting a couple kittens out and inspecting them closely. Sehyuk rolled his eyes and texted Sangdo, who was out grabbing groceries with Jiho, asking for backup.  
“They look like they’re in good health. I mean, I’m no vet, but there’s no obvious scratches or fleas or anything.” Yooncheul stated, setting the whining kittens back in the box. Whatever he was about to say next was cut off by Hojoon’s loud “We are not naming the cat Stripes.”  
Sehyuk sighed and texted Sangdo again, telling him to finish shopping and to get back to the door as soon as he could.   
“Hey, what’s for- oh my God, where did all these cats come from?!”   
“I’m asking myself the same thing,” Sehyuk muttered as Byungjoo darted past him to join the growing circle of men and kittens.   
“Before anyone asks me, we are not keeping any of them. We’re taking them to a shelter tomorrow. That’s it.” Sehyuk ignored the shouts of protest and went to his room, hoping to get some peace and quiet.   
Later that night, Sangdo and Jiho returned with groceries and worked on making something for the group to eat while Sehyuk patiently ignored everyone’s comments about the kittens, who had been relocated to a larger box that allowed room for a few blankets and some pork shreds they had procured from a dish of leftovers in the fridge.   
“There’s an animal shelter where we can drop them off nearby, right?” Sehyuk asked, glancing at Sangdo for confirmation. Naturally, he received a response from everyone but Sangdo.  
“We can’t leave them up for adoption, Sehyuk!” Hansol protested. “What if the shelter treats them poorly?”   
“Cats don’t get adopted as much as dogs,” Hojoon noted. “What if they don’t get adopted?”  
“You said they’re healthy, right, Chullie?” Sanggyun asked Yooncheul, turning back to Sehyuk when he received an affirmative nod. “There’s no reason we-” He paused, ducking his head and sneezing towards his lap. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t keep them.”   
“Except for the fact that we’ll have to provide for and clean up after fourteen cats? I don’t understand what you guys aren’t getting about this.” Sehyuk shook his head. “The dorm is crowded enough as it is.”  
“You have to admit, Sehyuk, it’s been a little roomy recently.” The table fell silent at Byungjoo’s somber comment. They all knew what, or rather, who, he was talking about.   
“That doesn’t mean we have time to look after a pet, much less fourteen of them.” Sehyuk shook his head, but his voice had lost any edge it previously had.  
“But-”  
“No. No pets in the dorm. That’s final.”

After shooing all the members away from the box and sending them to bed, Sehyuk made sure that the kittens were sound asleep with a dish of water and several blankets in their box before retiring to his own bed. Sanggyun was already asleep in his own bunk, snoring quietly. He didn’t stir as Sehyuk stripped to his briefs before turning the lights off and climbing into bed.   
When he woke up, there were eight more kittens in his bed than had been there when he fell asleep.   
Most of them were in a furry pile at the foot of his bed, all asleep. But a couple were closer to him, including one that had wiggled beneath the covers and was sleeping on his thigh. Sehyuk stared at the kittens for a moment before looking across the room, where Hansol and Byungjoo were standing in the doorway, trying to control their laughter.  
“Did you do this?”   
Hansol shook his head, but is was clear from their smirking that they had. Their laughter woke Sanggyun, who stuck his head over the edge of the bunk long enough for Sehyuk to catch a glimpse of his bedhead before falling back against his pillows, cackling loudly.  
If I had a quarter for every time I sighed, Sehyuk thought, gazing down at the sleeping kitten on his leg. It couldn’t have been bigger than his hand. And, admittedly, it was adorable.   
“Aww, look, Hayoung likes you!”  
Sehyuk looked up at Hansol in disbelief, ignoring the loud sneeze that echoed from the bunk above him. “You named it?”  
Hansol nodded and walked over to the bed, scooping up one of the kittens that had begun to wake up from all the noise. “A few of them. This one’s Gemini,” He said, stroking the brown tabby.   
“You named it Gemini.” Sehyuk closed his eyes as if that would make the whole scene in front of him disappear.  
“Gemini is a he,” Byungjoo said, sticking his tongue out at Sehyuk. “Isn’t he the cutest? Don’t you want to wake up to this every morning?” He said, gently stroking Gemini’s head.   
Sehyuk sighed as he watched the brown tabby yawned, dozing off in Hansol’s arms. After a long moment, he said, “Let me think about it.”

Hansol and Sanggyun passed the time before leaving for dance rehearsal by playing with the kittens, which had all been unofficially named by then. Most of the other members were showering, getting dressed, or styling their hair before going out, while Hojoon and Yooncheul had gotten ready earlier in the day to go out and buy supplies for raising the litter of kittens, despite not having a verdict from Sehyuk on the kittens’ fate.   
In the back of a drawer, Hansol had found a small comb that was perfect for brushing through the kittens’ hair and had taken to grooming whatever unlucky cat was closest to him. Sanggyun had fashioned a makeshift cat toy out of string and a rubber bouncy ball, and was entertaining Misha and Eros with it.   
Right as Akali struggled out of Hansol’s grip, another kitten entered his periphery. “Roxibelle!”  
He collected the kitten, who was quickly becoming his favorite, in his arms, and began brushing her. Sanggyun snickered as Syrup paced over and began swatting at the zipper of his hoodie.   
“Roxibelle is a cute name,” H Hansol protested, knowing exactly what Sanggyun was laughing about.  
“It’s-” He paused mid-sentence, turning away from Hansol and sneezing into his elbow, startling Syrup. “It’s a ridiculous name.”  
Hansol stuck his tongue out at Sanggyun before gently coaxing Syrup out of a discarded shoe, where he’d opted to hide. “You scared Syrup,” He exclaimed, shooting Sanggyun an accusing look.  
“Not my fault.”   
Hansol successfully managed to remove Syrup from the shoe and let him play with the laces instead. “Aren’t you allergic to cats?”  
Sanggyun nodded without looking up from Misha, who had begun meowing impatiently for the toy. “Yeah. But don’t tell Sangdo or Sehyuk.”   
“Why not?” Hansol asked, pulling a disgusted face when Sanggyun wiped his nose on his sleeve.   
“They’ll have more reasons to send the kittens to an adoption shelter or whatever,” He replied, scratching Misha’s back and smiling when the kitten purred at him. “And kittens are worth the allergies, so it doesn’t- son of a bitch, Misha, that hurt!” He yanked his hand away from the kitten who he’d been trying to pet and examined the scratch.  
Hansol smirked and went back to brushing Roxibelle.   
The peace only lasted for a moment before Hojoon burst into the door, arms laden down with bags from various stores. “Oh my God, I found the cutest shit at the pet store. Look!” He set one of the bags down and dug out a small cat costume, a hooded jacket with bunny ears. It was so ridiculous that Hansol couldn’t help but laugh.   
“That’s so Roxibelle,” He commented, setting the kitten down and walking to the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors. “She’ll love it.”  
“I still can’t believe you named the cat Roxibelle,” Hojoon muttered, already trying to get through the packaging with his teeth and nails. Hansol rolled his eyes and handed Hojoon the pair of scissors before picking up the aforementioned kitten, who meowed in protest.   
Hansol stroked the tortiseshell cat to comfort it, and the whiny mewls soon turned into small purrs. “Hojoon’s just jealous that he doesn’t have such a pretty name,” He whispered to Roxibelle, loud enough for Hojoon to hear.   
Hojoon scooped up Eros and tried to maneuver the costume around the kitten, but Eros hissed and squirmed out of Hojoon’s grip, darting away to scratch at the cardboard box where some of his siblings were sleeping instead.   
Roxibelle was apparently intrigued by the garment and hesitantly padded over to Hojoon, sniffing the fabric experimentally.   
“Hey, pretty girl,” Hojoon cooed, gently scratching Roxibelle’s head. “You wanna wear it? You’d look adorable.”  
Roxibelle flicked her tail.   
“I’ll take that as a yes.”  
To everyone’s surprise, Roxibelle adored the cat hoodie and allowed Hojoon to put it on her with minimal squirming. Yooncheul, who had been putting away the cat food and treats, broke into a grin when he saw her.  
“Wait, keep her there for a second.” He disappeared down the hall and came back with Sehyuk, Sangdo, and Byungjoo. The latter immediately aww’ed loudly when he saw Roxibelle, while Sangdo shook his head with fond exasperation. Sehyuk looked like he wished he hadn’t agreed to come with.   
“Look at how adorable they are, Sehyuk. Look at how happy they are.” Byungjoo scooped up one of the unnamed kittens from the box, who looked distinctly unhappy with being wakened from its nap. “We can’t get rid of them.”  
Sehyuk sighed and glanced around the room, taking in the plethora of cats, clothed or not. He noticed the bags of cat litter and grooming supplies that Hojoon had already purchased.   
After a long moment, he shrugged in resignation. “What the hell, we’ll keep them.”  
The room burst into cheers and laughter, and Sangdo smiled sympathetically at Sehyuk, who was trying his hardest to shout over the chaos and tell everyone that they needed to be responsible or the cats would be in a shelter before they could blink.   
“This will be good for them,” Sangdo murmured, wrapping an arm around Sehyuk’s waist. “They need the companionship. We all do, actually. This will be good for everyone.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taeyang comes to visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shitty endings r shitty also this chapter is shorter i am very sorry but be patient; i have a new project in the works and its gonna be so sad im so happy about writing it anyways yes kittens heres a full list of their names and their sex 
> 
> Roxibelle F, Akali F, Misha M, Syrup M, Kazuki M, Hayoung F, Brado M, Nostalgia F, Princess Annalise III F, Jellybean M, Gemini M, Moomin F, Eros M, Mittens M 
> 
> dont ask me why they all choose to attack the name roxibelle and not princess annalise III idgi either

Everyone was distracted when the left for dance practice later that afternoon, still talking about the kittens and what antics they’d be performing while the dorm was unmonitored. Sehyuk was beginning to regret his decision to leave the fourteen kittens unattended. He was positive that the dorm would be a disaster when they returned.

The rest of the group was in good spirits, though. They possessed an energy that they had lacked for a while. Although they were normally an active bunch, the stress of a comeback and the drama with Taeyang had left them all drained, something that hadn’t gone unnoticed by their stylists, choreographers, and vocal coaches. But today was different. Everyone was smiling and joking around, and it seemed to make the whole building just a bit brighter. It was bittersweet, reminding Sehyuk of when they first got into the groove of being idols- after overcoming the crushing stress of debuting but before members began leaving. 

Sehyuk shook his head as Byungjoo and Sanggyun got into a wrestling match about God-knows-what while Jiho tried to pull them apart. “One thousand won says the cats will have peed on every stainable surface in the dorm by the time we get back,” He muttered to Sangdo.

Sangdo simply shook his head and smiled. “We’ve got fabric cleaner, it’ll be fine.” He gently nudged Sehyuk with his elbow. “Seriously, don’t stress about it.” 

When they returned to the dorm, Sehyuk was pleasantly surprised to find only one pee stain- it seemed that most of the kittens had turned one of the smaller cardboard boxes into a makeshift litter box. When Jiho inspected the stain, one of the kittens shrunk back, tail flicking rapidly from side to side. 

“Moomin,” Jiho began in a low voice, kneeling down in front of the kitten. “Did you do this?”

Moomin’s response was to dart between Jiho’s legs and into the kitchen, nearly running into the leg of a stool as she did so. Jiho shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll grab the carpet cleaner. Sangdo-hyung, could you grab some paper towels?” 

“I forgot to mention this earlier, but Tae’s gonna be visiting later.” Sangdo tossed a roll of paper towels to Jiho. “We should probably try to get all of this cleaned up before then.” He said, gesturing to the various cat toys, grooming supplies, and other paraphernalia scattered about the living room.

“We need to figure out where to- Kazuki, get down from there!” 

By some miracle, one of the cats had found its way onto the very top of the cabinets and was now mewling in distress as Yooncheul tried to get it down, holding his arms out and speaking in a high-pitched tone. “Kazuki, c’mere. Just jump and I’ll catch you.”

After a pregnant moment of hesitation, Kazuki jumped, but overshot and landed atop Yooncheul’s head, causing him to yelp when the kitten’s claws sunk into his scalp. Sangwon wheezed with laughter as Yooncheul stumbled back, trying to remove the frightened kitten from his head. 

Sehyuk, who had been moving one of the bags of cat food next to the laundry machine, ran over and gently wrapped his hands around Kazuki, lifting the kitten from Yooncheul’s hair. Kazuki yowled in protest for a moment before Sehyuk began gently scratching between his shoulderblades. 

“Devil-cat,” Yooncheul muttered, pressing his fingertips against the puncture marks and checking them for blood. 

“He was just scared, weren’t you?” Sehyuk defended, cuddling the kitten to his chest. Behind him, Hansol and Hojoon exchanged glances. 

“He’s such a sap,” Hojoon said. “Like a puppy that thinks he’s a wolf.”

Hansol nodded in agreement. “A cactus on the outside, but straight vanilla pudding on the inside.” 

Within the hour, litter boxes were placed, food dishes were lined up, and Taeyang had been warned in advance that there over a dozen kittens roaming the dorm. Sangdo, who had been the one to inform him, was flooded with inquisitive texts from Taeyang, but he promised to fill the elder in when he arrived.  

Sure enough, when Taeyang arrived, his first question was, “What did you name them?”

Before Sehyuk could interject with a sarcastic  _ nice to see you too,  _ Hojoon began rambling about different names he’d thought of for the handful of kittens that didn’t have one yet. Taeyang quickly became engaged in the conversation and followed Hojoon to the front room, settling down on the couch next to him.

Sangdo shook his head and chuckled as he dialed the number displayed on a business card for a pizza delivery place. “Three or four pizzas?”

Sehyuk paused for a moment, ignoring Jiho’s shout of  _ eight!  _ “Four.” It seemed excessive but with ten boys in one dorm, food disappeared quickly unless there was a lot of it- and even then, it only lasted marginally longer. 

He turned around to go over to Taeyang and properly greet him when something soft and warm suddenly slipped under his foot, followed by a loud yowl. Caught off-guard, Sehyuk tried to regain his balance but ended up falling anyways, much to the amusement of everyone else in the dorm. Even Sangdo was too occupied laughing at his pain to help him up.

Sehyuk sighed, staring at the ceiling. To nobody in particular, he said, “I regret keeping these cats.”

Just as the words left his mouth, something pressed against his hand- a different cat headbutting him, asking for attention. Sehyuk resigned and gently pet the cat, unable to hold back a smile when the kitten pressed its head against his hand. “Okay, maybe not you,” He murmured to the cat.

“We haven’t named that one yet,” Sangwon piped up, pointing to the cat that Sehyuk was petting. Sehyuk groaned and stood up, rolling his eyes when the unnamed cat began pawing at his shins for more attention. Putting up an air of faux-reluctance, Sehyuk scooped the fuzzball up in his arms and walked over to the couch with it.

As much as he didn’t want to, Sehyuk was eventually pulled into a two-hour long conversation about cat names, with the majority of it being spent on whether or not Byungjoo should be allowed to name a cat Brado. He eventually won with the argument that if Hansol could name a cat Roxibelle, then he could name one Brado. This lead to another fight that was less of a fight and more of a verbal dogpile on Hansol about how ridiculous the name Roxibelle was. 

After three hours and four pizzas had passed, Taeyang hugged everyone and kissed Jiho at the door before returning to his own dorm. A few members retired to their bedrooms, others stayed up. Sehyuk helped Sangdo prepare a large batch of pancake batter, since Sangdo insisted the pancakes tasted better when the batter sat overnight. Sehyuk couldn’t really tell the difference.

Finally, the batter was chilling in the fridge and the kitchen was no longer dusted in flour. Sehyuk paced over to where Sanggyun was asleep on the couch, still in the clothes he’d worn during the day and probably with his contacts still in. Thank God he’d invested in the overnight kind, since he was so prone to falling asleep while wearing contacts.

“Should I wake him?” Sehyuk asked, glancing up at Sangdo.

Sangdo shook his head. “Let him rest. I think he’s getting sick, he was sneezing quite a bit earlier.”

Sehyuk didn’t think anything more of it and instead disdainfully plucked a cat hair off the arm of the couch. “It’s been one day and this thing is already covered in cat hair.”

Sangdo chuckled and walked over to Sehyuk, arms lacing around his waist. “Don’t be dramatic, it’s nothing that a lint roller won’t fix.”

“This is what our clothes are gonna look like. This is the reality we’ve chosen to live, Sangdo.”

Sangdo hummed in amusement, pulling Sehyuk close to him before catching his lips in a kiss. “Doesn’t matter, because I’ve got something that’ll cheer you up. Come to the bedroom with me, yeah?” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kittens visit the vet for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LONG TIME NO UPDATE HUH i've had horrific writers block lately but i finally sat my ass down and finished this h*cking chapter. its kinda dialogue heavy and i feel like that's very inconsistent with my other writings but?? this is literally kitten fluff, there's not exactly room for angsty inner monologues lol  
> anyway i hope u enjoy this four month late update or whatever

“Kazuki, I swear to God I’ll shove you off with a broom if you don’t come down from there right now!”

Sehyuk closed his eyes. One afternoon of peace was all he wanted. 

“Fine, you asked for it.” A loud yowling pierced the air and was followed by the clattering of a broom hitting the ground and a wail.

It would appear that one afternoon was too much to ask for. 

Sehyuk rushed into the kitchen and found a startled Kazuki attempting to scramble up the side of the cabinets again while Sangwon desperately tried to stop him with the wide end of a broom. Jiho watched from across the room, looking both concerned and amused. 

“Devil cat,” Sangwon muttered bitterly as Kazuki successfully scaled the cabinets again. Sehyuk sighed as he noticed a bright red scratch on the back of his hand, still clutching the broom tightly. 

Jiho took a different approach and broke into the well-hidden bag of cat treats and began coaxing Kazuki down while Sehyuk examined Sangwon’s hand, much to the younger’s displeasure.

“Sehyuk, it’s fine, seriously.”

The leader wasn’t convinced. “We-  _ you- _ found these cats behind a noodle joint. They could have rabies for all we know.” He lead Sangwon over to the kitchen sink and began washing the scratch gently. “We have to schedule a vet’s appointment for them.”

“Yooncheul already set one up,” Jiho stated. Kazuki was now settled in his arms and happily licking the crumbs of the treat from his whiskers. “This Saturday, for all of them at once.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to take them in a couple batches or something? I mean, there’s fourteen of them.” 

Jiho shrugged and, at Sehyuk’s request, fetched the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a few bandages from a drawer. 

“We’re gonna need some pet carrier things for the vet’s office,” Sangwon said, wincing as Sehyuk diligently cleaned the scratch. “Jesus, hyung, it’s just a scratch. I’m not gonna die. Look, it’s not even bleeding anymore.” 

Sehyuk patiently ignored Sangwon and said, “We can run to the store later and grab a couple. I don’t think we’ll need too many, we can put a few in each.” 

“Won’t they fight with each other?”

“No, I think they’ll get along fine.”

Saturday rolled around and while Sehyuk hadn’t exactly been wrong, he certainly hadn’t been right, either.

The kittens didn’t so much fight with each other as the did fight against the overall situation, and the car was filled with yowling, hissing, and the rattling of the travel carriers for the whole ride. Sehyuk tried to keep his eyes focused on the road as Yoonchuel, Jiho, and Tae, who had insisted on coming along, tried to keep the kittens entertained. 

A few of them didn’t mind; Jellybean had even gone as far to curl up in a corner of his travel box and nap. But the rest of them were pressing their noses through the air holes in the sides of the containers and meowing as loud as their little kitten lungs would allow them to. 

Some of the kittens seemed more fearful than angry, letting out soft, scared mewls whenever the car changed speed. Yooncheul and Taeyang tried their best to calm all of them down. And really, despite the noise, everything was going smoothly until Akali vomited inside of the box and all of the other kittens within it. 

Sehyuk winced as the acidic scent reached him and pulled the collar of his t-shirt up over his nose while Yooncheul dug around in the back seat for a roll of paper towels. He couldn't find any, but the two of them did manage to scare up some wet wipes to clean up with, or at least try to. It would have to suffice. 

Taeyang hesitantly pulled Akali out of the box, ignoring the kitten vomit smearing on his skin and held the trembling cat against his chest. Miraculously, it seemed to help soothe her. Yooncheul tried the same with a particularly rambunctious Kazuki and ended up with plenty of new scratches to show. 

Finally, they arrived in mostly one piece. They took a travel carrier each, despite one of them still dribbling puke out of the side. Sehyuk winced and held the carrier away from his body as they walked towards the building. 

“I don’t think anything will be wrong with them,” Yooncheul said confidently. 

Sehyuk groaned as a drop of vomit splattered against his shoe. “Bet you’re wrong.” 

“I guess we’ll find out.”

 

“Wait, he has what?”

Sehyuk sighed as Hansol entered the room in the middle of his sentence, leaving him to repeat himself yet again. “Arrhythmia. It means he has a weird heartbeat. It’s not dangerous or anything, so we don’t need to worry.” 

Said kitten was completely unphased by the vet’s visit and was playing with his brother. Byungjoo gazed sadly at Brado as he chased Misha around the couch. 

“He’s gonna be okay, right?”

“Pay attention, Joo, Sehyuk hyung just said it wasn’t dangerous.”

Hansol scooped Brado up, much to the kitten’s disliking, and cradled him to his chest. “I mean, something involving the heart is scary. What does ‘weird’ heartbeat even qualify as, anyway?”

“Probably just too quick or skipping a couple beats every now and then,” Sanggyun piped up. “My aunt had arrhythmia from one of her medications. It’s harmless.”

Byungjoo bit his lip, still not completely convinced. He hadn’t been too fond of the kittens when they had first arrived, given that one of them had decided to use his pillow as a litterbox. But they had grown on him, and he’d be absolutely devastated if something happened to one of them. 

“Maybe there’s some sort of heart supplement we can add to his food or something,” He mused as Brado successfully wriggled out of Hansol’s arms. Sehyuk rolled his eyes fondly and patted his dongsaeng on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. They all will. Speaking of all of them, we have to give them all baths with this special soap. The vet said it would help prevent ticks and fleas.” 

Jiho shuddered at the thought of giving fourteen kittens a bath. “That’s gonna be a disaster.”

“I’m sure it can’t be worse than the vet visit.” 

“You willing to bet money on that?”

 

It was Yooncheul who decided there was no time like the present to accomplish things and piled all of the kittens into the tub at once. The lukewarm, medicinal smelling water was met with varying reactions, although thankfully there was no kitten puke this time around. Yooncheul had recruited as many other members as could fit in the bathroom, but Hojoon had left almost immediately, claiming the medicated soap would dry his hands out. Sanggyun had given up after having a sneezing fit that ended with him whacking his head against a wall, and Sangdo had gone to check up on him.

“Looks like our trio’s down to two, huh?” Yooncheul grinned at Sehyuk, Jiho, and Sangwon.

“You realize there’s four of us in here, right?” Sangwon grimaced as the soap stung his now unbandaged hand. Sehyuk gave him a nervous look but didn’t say anything. 

Yooncheul, who was washing kittens like a madman, lifted a now-clean Hayoung out of the tub and handed her to Jiho, who began towelling her off. “Close enough. This is going pretty smoothly so far.”

“Don’t say that, you’re gonna jinx it.” 

As if on cue, Syrup tried to lap up the bath water and gave an aggrieved yowl at the bitter taste, flicking his tail angrily. He ended up whacking Kazuki in the face, and the action set off a chain reaction of angry hissing and splashing water. 

Several soaked towels, fourteen clean kittens, and one soap-reddened eye later, the bathroom was empty and Sehyuk was looking fairly abused. 

“You owe me ten thousand won.”

“Shut up, Jiho.”

 

“I can’t believe you spent that much money on nametags.” 

Hansol pointedly ignored Hojoon’s commentary and clipped on the last of the customized nametags. Princess Annalise was the last to be branded and, much like her siblings, took off running once Hansol released her. It was obvious that most of the kittens weren’t fond of their new collar and nametag sets, but Hansol insisted they would grow used to it.

“You should’ve seen Roxibelle in hers, it was so cute, the pink works  _ so _ well for her-” 

Hojoon rolled his eyes and began digging around in the kitchen for something to eat. Meanwhile, Hansol decided he hadn’t tortured the kittens enough and set about rounding them all up for some much needed Instagram photos.

“Oh my god, guys, come in here!”

It took some work to herd the eight other boys into the front room, but it was worth it. Using the temptation of treats, Hansol had managed to get all fourteen kittens to sit somewhat still. Even Sehyuk couldn’t help but coo when he saw them all lined up with their matching collars and nametags. 

“They look  _ adorable. _ ” Sangdo gushed. Byungjoo knelt down to feed them a couple treats while Sanggyun observed from a distance and smiled.

The only one who wasn’t smiling was Jiho. “Are you sure that’s all of them?” He asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot. An uneasy feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach, and it only grew worse as he looked up and down the line of kittens. 

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Hansol said, but he took a step back and began counting, just for good measure. 

His heart skipped a beat when he only counted thirteen.

Quickly, he counted again, aloud this time to try to prove to himself and Jiho that all the kittens were there. The total was still thirteen.

Normally this wouldn’t worry any of them; the kittens loved hiding under beds and on top of furniture, and it was more than likely that number fourteen was happily hiding in a pile of laundry somewhere. But Hansol was  _ absolutely positive  _ that he’d rounded all of them up. 

He and Jiho began looking around as if by silent agreement. Just as Hansol was beginning to reassure himself that the last kitten was merely hiding somewhere, Sanggyun spoke up. 

“Uh...guys?” He pointed to a low placed window, which had been left open to allow a breeze into the dorm. There had been a screen behind it that was firmly closed- but now, there was a gaping hole in the mesh that was clearly created by claws. 

“I think we just lost a kitten.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol this is completely unbeta'd and all over the place sorry


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